Heavy fighting continues

The casualties to both sides has drastically increased in what is termed the "last fight". Scores of Tigers and close to 200 soldiers have been killed in about 10 days of fighting. 53 SLA bodies fell into the LTTE at fighting in Paranthan, Nilvil etc along the L-shaped bund breached by the Army in this time period.

The bund, sometimes 20 feet tall, is heavily manned by tigers armed with MPMGs and HMGs. Bunkers are constructed along the banks, behind the banks and sometimes in the basin of the banks. The rain still keeps falling hard despite a brief respite. The trenches, steep climbs of the bund and the basins have got flooded and muddied. This situation is expected to last till mid-January.

In one fight, tigers waited for the SLA to advance and attempted to cut them down with heavy fire. As several teams fell, others continued the charge along the muddy approach to the bund, which is again followed by a steep drop into another mud-pit. The approach to the bund, particularly at Paranthan and Nilvil are in open terrain. Meanwhile a second bund has been constructed 2km from the first bund at Paranthan and fighting will soon be launched to gain control of this bund.

But the Army is not letting go. Field Commanders confirmed to DefenceWire that the attacks will continue although casualties are higher than what they used to be. They are of the opinion that within 15-20 days, the Tigers would gradually lose control of the bunds, one-by-one as experienced fighters are lost and replaced by unmotivated conscripts who are inexperienced and ill-trained.

The SLA launches somewhere between 10-15 attacks on LTTE defenses along the bund on a daily basis. The strength of the SLA grew from about 130,000 to 170,000 men since the Present Army Commander assumed duties. In 2008 alone, close to 40,000 men joined the SLA.

Many more are expected to join as TF-5 is being formed. Currently, TF-5 has two Brigades or 5000 men, which is expected to grow by another one Brigade or more. All the major training centers are currently full with fresh recruits. Around 850 SLA passed-out last week from Maduru Oya alone.

The SLAF has also increased its sorties in dramatic fashion. Each day, they too launch 10-15 sorties on LTTE targets. The damages caused to the LTTE is still unclear.

Meanwhile the SLN finally discovered the source of new artillery to the LTTE. Forward advancing units had noted a sudden increase in artillery attacks by the LTTE and a search was on for the last several days to locate the source of the shells. Finally the vessel, half emptied of its cargo at the time, was discovered and subsequently destroyed several hundred nautical miles off Mullaitivu coast. Sea tigers tried to distract the SLN with several boat movements in the Kilali area last week.